India’s First All-Male Lavani Troupe Defies Gender Roles & Age-Old Taboos

Ornate jewellery, kohl-lined eyes and crimson lips, the audience would be rendered to a lull when these glamorous sari-clad artists would perform. The performance would conclude only to be met with thunderous applause and appreciative whistles from the crowd. Backstage, the makeup would come off and so would the nine yards wrapping them, and the performers would leave to get on with their day-to-day lives as fathers, husbands and sons. In a majorly patriarchal and heteronormative India, Bin Baykancha Tamasha— an all-male lavani dance troupe — made waves and put up stiff competition for the rigid gendered roles that have to a large extent regulated how our society functions. Having performed for over a decade, this dance troupe was the first of its kind in India.

This folk dance form’s origins can be traced to as far back as the seventeenth century. Lavani is usually performed by a group of women for an audience consisting predominantly of middle-class men. Bin Baykancha Tamasha’s name — which translates to performance without women — is in itself a direct dig at the narrow mindsets, which bracket men and women into certain professions or roles. This dance group brings added authenticity to the topics usually tackled by this dance form. The most common of these topics are commentaries on the societal, religious and political state of the country. However, this is done in a manner that is entertaining, speckled with dashes of humour, satire and eroticism.

The popularity of this unconventional dance troupe is a small but significant step towards the society’s acceptance of a male sexuality and changing masculinity that is uninhibited and flamboyant. The common man’s closest link to erotica, Bin Baykancha Tamasha’s success is a window into the lesser-known stance of the common man towards homosexuality.

“My male students would pitch in when a (female) dancer didn’t turn up. The audience could not tell the difference and they were applauded by the crowd. So, I thought it would be interesting to create an all-male dance troupe,” said Anil Vasudevan, founder of Bin Baykancha Tamasha, while speaking with The Telegraph about the conception of the dance troupe. However, putting together the group was quite the task with Vasudevan spending hours on the selection process. “To be convincing as a woman, you have to think about yourself as a woman,” he added. The selection process was followed by a six-month-long workshop, designing thigh and chest pads to perfectly emulate the female form, and finally getting used to moving around in the nine yards, the heavy jewellery and elaborate wigs.

Anil Hankare, who has known Vasudevan since 1995, is also one of the founding members of the troupe. Hankare, who for quite some time danced under the pseudonym Madhu, said while speaking with The Better India, “Where I was getting Rs 750 a month, one performance dressed as a woman earned me Rs 300. It was a major boost,” about his switch from dancing as Anil to dancing as Madhu. Hankare is married and a father of two. “My kids were extremely supportive at the start. But they don’t like it anymore. They ask me, ‘How should we tell our friends that our father is a lavani dancer?’ People look at most male lavani as either effeminate or homosexual. There’s nothing wrong with being gay. But why force a sexuality on someone based on their line of work?” said Hankare while expressing a concern faced by most male lavani dancers.

“In the Peshwa era, women were not allowed to dance with ghungroos around their feet. So men danced donning saris. We aren’t doing anything new, we are just rekindling an old tradition. In traditional art forms like Dashavtar, Chauu & Bharud, men continue to dance dressed as women. When these dance forms and artists are given due respect, why is lavani looked down upon?” he added.

Even though Bin Baykancha Tamasha no longer performs as a group owing to the lack of funds, Hankare believes that lavani performed my men is a force that can change perspectives and bring about change. Challenging notions that exist in all strata of society, this iconic dance troupe has been instrumental in starting conversations and mobilising change with respect to sexuality and rigid notions of masculinity.

Read more of The Telegraph interview here, and The Better India here.

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